


Cautiously, Lightly

by Star55



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bullied Harry, Bullying, F/F, Genderswap, Girl Band, Girl Direction, Hate Speech, Misogyny, Press and Tabloids, Sexism, Slut Shaming, girl!Harry, girl!Liam - Freeform, girl!Louis, girl!Niall, girl!Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 00:28:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3830422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star55/pseuds/Star55
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Bitch.</i><br/><i>Fake.</i><br/><i>Attention whore.</i><br/><i><b>Slut.</b></i><br/>The words stand out on the bright screen of her phone and Harry can feel the tears pricking the backs of her eyes as she reads them over and over again, the words imprinting themselves into her brain, leaving a more than just a surface scratch each time. She knows it’s stupid to. To let these words get to her. Normally she would just ignore them but she had just posted a song lyric tweet and these were the instantaneous responses she got. It happens every time without fail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cautiously, Lightly

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost, this story was written at the _very_ beginning of March 2014 from an anon prompt I received: _I was wondering if you would consider writing a fic that deals with the slut shaming that Harry would receive as a girl?_  
>  While I wrote it pretty well straight away, I felt like there was something missing from the story. And while I've since read and re-read a bajillion times, and have discovered that it's dialogue in the middle, there's no way I can fit it in seamlessly without re-writing the _entire_ thing, which would end up being 20k plus, easily.  
>  Also, having the timeframe in mind for this fic, there are obviously a _lot_ of factors that have changed since March 2014, not only with the band but with my own opinions and headcanons as well. Which I don't think are too relevant but, let's just say, if I wrote this story in 2015, Ben Winston would not have been in it. Alas, he is. 
> 
> Please keep in mind all of the warnings and the fact that this story _is_ centred around the slut-shaming girl Harry, in the band One Direction would receive.   
>  I mean no ill intent with this story, and I am an extremely big feminist, and do not share the degrading opinions that are said by made-up characters/press/etc in this story, it is there purely for fictional purposes.
> 
> [This song](http://star55.tumblr.com/post/79302917677/brooke-fraser-scarlet) is the song that I listened to while writing this story, and it inspired the title. (If the link doesn't work, it's Scarlet by Brooke Fraser.)
> 
> Written as a part of April being [Girl Direction Month](http://star55.tumblr.com/post/115149758256).
> 
> Thank you to Leah Supernope for looking over this for me way over a year ago and putting up with my rants about it. I'm sorry to have subjected you to my rambling.   
> A massive thanks to Danielle for the beta read. ♥♥
> 
> Please do not break the fourth wall and share this with any of the mentioned people in the story, or the band, or their families, friends, lovers, or anyone like that.  
> Also, this work is not for redistribution anywhere without my explicit consent. Thank you.

_Bitch._

_Fake._

_Attention whore._

_**Slut.** _

The words stand out on the bright screen of her phone and Harry can feel the tears pricking the backs of her eyes as she reads them over and over again, the words imprinting themselves into her brain, leaving a more than just a surface scratch each time. She knows it’s stupid to. To let these words get to her. Normally she would just ignore them but she had just posted a song lyric tweet and these were the instantaneous responses she got. It happens every time without fail. 

There are countless other responses, of course. Countless “Harry, please follow me”, and “Harry, please tweet me back”. After that, they tended to get a little… dark. Some of them were disgusting to read. She remembers the first time she’d seen something disturbing in a response to one of her tweets. It isn’t something she thought anyone would have the capacity to think of but apparently they did, and apparently they still do if the tweets she gets regularly are anything to go by. 

Harry screws her eyes shut and takes a deep breath before exiting out of the Twitter app on her phone, shutting it down completely with swift movements of her thumbs. She’s scrolling through her What’s App messages with Niall from earlier that day when Louis enters their bedroom, flicking off the overhead light as she passes the switch on the wall. She smiles at Harry, the soft one that’s just for her, and she climbs into bed next to her. The bed dips and Harry gets a waft of Louis’ body wash from the shower she had just taken. 

“You won’t need that,” Louis says, plucking the phone from Harry’s hands where it’s locked itself automatically. She places the phone on top of her bedside drawers and leans over to kiss Harry soundly on the lips. Harry responds immediately, tilting her head up to kiss Louis back. Her body reacts instantaneously to Louis’ touches but her mind is still on her Twitter responses, no matter how hard she tries to shove the words from her mind. 

Louis straddles Harry’s lap where she’s still sitting up in bed and she cards a hand through Harry’s hair, her fingers pressing at Harry’s scalp in a way that usually makes her melt underneath Louis’ touch. 

“What’s wrong?” Louis asks, immediately pulling back, her brow is furrowed and her gaze is searching Harry’s face, looking for something that Harry doesn’t particularly want to share. 

Harry sucks her bottom lip between her teeth and squeezes Louis’ hips, pushing up the old band t-shirt she’s wearing, feeling the warm, soft skin under the palms of her hands. “Nothing,” she replies. Louis can probably see the lie on her face but she doesn’t press it. She keeps her eyes open as she kisses Harry softly on the lips before pulling away completely, sliding off Harry’s lap and back over to her side of the bed. “What…?”

With a soft smile and a pat to Harry’s forearm, Louis settles into their bed a little more, wriggling her body down between the sheets. “We don’t have to have sex tonight,” she says. “We’ve got an early start tomorrow morning and we need sleep.”

Harry pouts. “But I want to have sex,” she replies. She always wants to have sex with Louis, even if her mind is on other things. She could use the distraction of Louis’ lips on her skin and Louis’ warm hands roaming over her body.

Louis laughs. “C’mere,” she says, opening up her arms. Harry immediately moves, lying down next to Louis, her head resting on Louis’ chest. “You know you can tell me anything, right babe?”

Harry nods. “I do,” she replies, resigned to the fact that they aren’t going to have sex tonight. She ducks her head and pouts a little more. Louis’ stomach twitches under Harry’s fingers as she strokes over the skin underneath her shirt. Louis pushes the fabric up enough so that she can lace her fingers with Harry’s own. Harry hums softly, taking the contact and letting it soothe her. 

“Good,” Louis says softly. She strokes her fingers through Harry’s hair with her free hand and before Harry knows it, she’s falling asleep listening to the soft beat of Louis’ heart over her t-shirt clad chest.

~*~

When One Direction first started, no one knew how big they were going to be. They were all fresh faced teenagers who were absolutely in over their heads. They trusted the adults to do right by them but it appeared over time that they hadn’t taken certain things into account.

Like the fact that just after boot camp when they had just formed as a band, that Harry and Louis would fall in love with each other. 

It was instantaneous. Though, Harry would happily admit that she was beyond infatuated with Louis and fell in love with her the more she got to know her. 

Louis was electric. Everything about her drew Harry to her. She was wild but tame at the same time. She had a personality that Harry had never come across before in her small town of Holmes Chapel. Harry was the moth to Louis’ flame, that’s the only explanation. She was a bright spark on Harry’s otherwise dull horizon. 

The first night they had spent together, they had stayed up long after the other girls had gone to sleep, with Louis’ leg between Harry’s own as they lay on their sides, facing each other, telling each other random facts that probably would have made sense to no one else but them. 

As time went on, Harry definitely fell in love. She was in so deep that she didn’t even want to come out of the pool of Louis that she was in. Louis was beautiful in so many ways. From her gorgeous smile to her big heart and her fierce personality. She was perfect, in Harry’s mind. Better still, she was just as in love with Harry as Harry was with her.

They shared their first kiss over breakfast the next morning. Harry had made pancakes for everyone and when she had gone into the bathroom to brush her teeth, Louis had barged her way in and even though Harry’s lips were stained with toothpaste, Louis kissed her. It was short and sweet at first but it had lit a fire inside of Harry that had no intentions of burning out, not even years later. 

The only problem was their public persona. Harry had been confused and a little scared when, even though she and Louis had been living together since The X Factor had finished, that it was deemed by their management that they were _too_ gay together and that one, or both, of them needed to have a boyfriend. Louis had immediately and passionately responded that that was _not_ going to happen but after a lot of _long_ and boring talks with their management and publicists, Louis had agreed that it would be her, not Harry, that would be lumped with a boyfriend but it had to be someone that she had chosen. 

What had pissed Louis off the most about that conversation had been the topic of her hair.

“You want me to _what_?” Louis had all but spat, the anger clear across her face. Her hand clenched just this side of painful in Harry’s own and she had squeezed it back to let Louis know that she wasn’t going anywhere, that they couldn’t make her.

“We need you to grow your hair out,” came the response, “it looks too lesbian like that.”

Harry knew that Louis was literally seeing red at that point when she had demanded what _lesbian_ actually looked like and had argued with them for a solid half an hour before Harry had leaned forwards and said to Louis that she would grow her hair, too, even though her hair was already below her shoulders. 

The look on Louis’ face was one that Harry would never forget. She looked defeated. A look that Harry had never seen on her girlfriend’s face before. It made her chest ache. She never wanted to see that look on Louis’ face ever again and she silently vowed to do whatever it was they asked of her, within reason, just so that look would never cross Louis’ face again.

It was just hair, and hair grew, but it was more than that. 

It was the first sign of the reins tightening on them. They were growing more and more popular by the day. They had literally millions of fans that looked up to them, that admired them, that wanted to _be_ them. According to their management team, none of them could be seen to be anything other than straight.

Not that it mattered when Zayn and Liam held hands in public; it was just written off as sisterly love. It also didn’t matter that when Liam and her long term boyfriend, Danny, had split up that Liam had cut her hair into a pixie cut akin to Emma Watson after the last _Deathly Hallows_ movie because no one thought that _she_ was gay. It was Liam. She was the epitome of a straight girl. 

At the start, Harry wore a lot of skirts and dresses. She liked being feminine. She liked wearing strappy flat sandals and skirts that made her legs look longer than they actually were. She loved being done up in make up by Lou, one of their stylists, and loved having her pretty outfits picked out by Caroline, their head stylist. She loved the colours, the textures, the fashion, she loved it all.

She was nowhere near as fashionable or as put together as Zayn so effortlessly was, but she tried. Zayn was a level of beauty that exceeded anything Harry had ever hoped to achieve. She was gorgeous but she wasn’t arrogant about it. She was a silent, strong beauty and the more Harry had got to know Zayn, the more she loved her. 

Almost a year after One Direction had formed; the idea of a winter romance was put to Harry. She had panicked and turned to Louis, who had gone deathly pale at the suggestion. Neither of them were keen on what that meant, what it meant for their relationship, let alone their public image.

Colin had been introduced and to Harry’s surprise, he was significantly older, in his mid-twenties when Harry was still only seventeen years old. He seemed nice but Harry had shied away from his every touch.

After their first ‘date’, Harry had gone home, reeking of cologne and had spent hours in the bathtub with Louis, trying to soothe both of them. Colin had gone in for a kiss at the end of their date and Harry had taken a step backwards. He said he understood it, but the look on his face indicated otherwise.

A few more public dates with Colin were had before the first sex story was released. 

Louis was livid. Harry felt sick to her stomach and had thrown up her entire breakfast after seeing the front page of the newspaper. Management insisted that it was going to be dealt with and that they just stay home for the day.

Harry’s mum had phoned and Harry spent almost the entire conversation crying, wondering how someone could blatantly lie like that about her with no regard to her feelings. 

That day saw Harry’s first _slut_ @ mention on Twitter by a supposed fan who follower her account. She had tried to ignore it. Louis had taken her phone and tucked it away in her sock drawer. The other girls had come over and they all piled into Harry and Louis’ bed to watch cheesy movies and eat ice cream together.

It didn’t die down.

The first up the skirt picture of Harry was taken not even two weeks later. She had been wearing g-string underwear and the picture was all over social media within an hour and on the front page of no less than three tabloid newspapers the next day.

Anne had come to stay with them for a few days after that, holding Harry as she sobbed, wondering why this was happening to her.

Management yet again told her that it was being taken care of but when three weeks later, someone tried to rip Harry’s top off her body when she was leaving Tesco, it seemed to her that perhaps they had been lying.

After their first tour was over with and while Harry had been grateful for being able to work across the world, doing what she loved, there were still daily articles about her in all of the tabloid newspapers and magazines back home. A lot of them proclaimed her and Colin’s _romance_ to have been something that had awoken some deviant, sexual side of Harry that apparently made her want to get her kit off with every man she met. It disgusted her, and it made Louis furious with every article. 

Louis started a ritual. They would save the articles and at the end of each week, they would burn them. Watching the pages burn before her eyes, taking away their nasty words with them made Harry feel a little better. It was slightly therapeutic and Harry felt like she could deal with it a little more. 

The rebelliousness started shortly after that. 

Gone were both Harry and Louis’ bright coloured trousers, shirts and dresses, and in came the black skinny jeans, t-shirts and a lot less high heels. Not that Harry could ever walk in them to begin with, she almost broke her ankle just standing in them during an ordinary photo shoot where she didn’t have to move around much. It was their subtle way of acting out. If they couldn’t show their love, then they were going to dress however they wanted. 

It was Louis who had started it, of course. She was nothing if not determined to do things her own way. They were bound by contract with certain things but she sure as hell could act out in other ways. It was inspiring to Harry. She was in awe of her girlfriend’s strength and admired her determination.

By their second Christmas together as a band, Harry had her fair share of tattoos, wore her hair how she wanted, but kept the length, just because of the promise she had made Louis, and only wore dresses whenever they attended red carpet events. 

It was put to her that she needed another boyfriend. Apparently it wasn’t enough that she had been linked with countless men, some of whom she had only shared a handshake with, but she needed another relationship after the utter failure that was her and Colin.

This time, it was an American celebrity, an actor and famous in his own right. Taylor Lautner had been sweet and he looked like a cuddly puppy at the best of times. He was _safe_ as far as both of their images went. The winter months were spent between London and the USA, even though Harry wanted nothing more than to spend her time with Louis, curled up with her, drinking hot chocolate and having sex well into the night under the guise of keeping warm. She wanted that. She wanted her girlfriend.

Her schedule conflicted with missing Louis’ twenty first birthday. 

When they found that out, Louis had been pissed off. 

They fought worse than they had ever had before and it broke Harry’s heart a little. She went to Niall’s because Niall was the best cuddler out of the group apart from Louis, and she understood and she hated what was happening to Harry and Louis’ relationship for the sake of their public appearance. All of the girls did. They had said so many times that they didn’t care if Louis and Harry went public; they were always going to stick together. Harry couldn’t do that to them, though. It wasn’t just her career on the line, it was theirs as well.

Although it didn’t make up for missing her birthday day, Harry threw Louis the best twenty first birthday party that had even been thrown. Their close friends and family had been there and the only photos that were taken had been with cameras that Harry had supplied from her personal collection. She didn’t want to risk anyone leaking photos of the party to the paparazzi or posting them anywhere online.

Before the cake had been brought out, Niall had made the first speech of the evening. She had prattled on about Louis’ pranks and how they were all the best sisters that she could have ever hoped to have. As the only one of them with a brother, Niall had longed for a sister her entire life and she instantly had four when she was put into the band. 

Looking at all of their friends, Harry knew that she couldn’t put them through the pain of being selfish and coming out. It wouldn’t be fair. She was protecting them as they had often protected her.

Liam had been the second speech, followed by Zayn, who had Louis laughing so loudly that she had fallen off her chair, tears running down her cheeks and clutching a hand to her stomach. Zayn had thrown her a wink and once Louis was calm enough, Harry had been passed the microphone to make her speech.

She’d had it all planned out, what she was going to say, but the moment her gaze had landed on Louis, taking in the way she looked, how her hair was done and her sparkling, _happy_ eyes, and the gorgeous top she was wearing, that matched Harry’s own, but just in a different colour; the way her wavy hair was growing out beautifully, even though it was a constant reminder of just how much they had sacrificed to be together, her smile bright even though they weren’t spending Louis’ actual birthday together – it all went out the window. 

Shakily, Harry had started talking about how Louis was the love of her life. She told stories of when she and Louis had shared their first flat and how Louis’ toes were always cold and she would shove them under Harry’s thighs to keep them warm, even though she refused to wear socks. She hadn’t planned to talk about the times that were much simpler and easier than they were these days but it didn’t stop her.

It didn’t stop her from getting down on one knee in front of all of their closes friends and family and producing a ring that had been sitting in her own sock drawer for more than six months, knowing that it would be one of the last places Louis would ever actually go into.

It didn’t stop her from uttering the five most important words in her life and receiving the one most important word back from Louis.

Their night had been even better after that. They had proposed to each other no less than six times since they became a couple and each time was met with a warm ‘yes’ and a very amazing round of sex, but this was definitely the first time that there had been a ring. 

After Louis had said yes, everyone had applauded and the kiss they shared had been better than the first one they ever had together. Louis called Harry a sap but hadn’t stopped showing off her engagement ring to anyone who asked about it (and those who didn’t) for the remainder of the evening. 

When everyone had gone home, or gone to bed, Louis had taken Harry to their bedroom and they had made love well into the early hours of the morning, staying up to watch the sunrise, swaddled with blankets from their bed and a gorgeous view from their window. 

Harry thought her heart would burst from all of the love she had felt right then for Louis, but it remained beating strongly in her chest, a constant reminder that they could get through all of this together.

The ring couldn’t stay on for long, though, much to their annoyance. It stayed in their London home as Louis didn’t want to risk losing it across the globe during one of their many trips. It was too precious to her – to both of them.

Publicly dating Taylor Lautner brought about even more angst than Harry had originally thought. They were filmed kissing for the ball drop in Time’s Square at New Year’s and Harry had backed away as fast as possible but she already knew that back home, Louis would be waking up to pictures of her kissing someone that wasn’t her. She just hoped that wherever Louis was, she was wearing her engagement ring to remind her that Harry would chose her over every single other person on the planet, in the universe, or the galaxy. It would always be Louis for Harry. No one else.

Two days after New Year’s, another sex story of Harry appeared in the papers. Sadly, this time, there were stories both in UK and USA papers. It made Harry’s heart ache. It was about her and Taylor this time, of course, and a _close friend_ had apparently seen them in a hot tub getting cosy and then apparently a little risqué. 

Before Valentine’s Day they had publicly split, which Harry was thankful for, but apparently that opened a new set of floodgates for men that Harry had met while being away to sell their stories to the tabloids about her sexual prowess. 

Their next tour started and for the most part, her romantic links slowed down. Until she was seen attending an event with someone famous’ son on the American leg of their tour. He had tried getting a little handsy with Harry but she had told him to back off. It resulted in Niall giving him a black eye and the very next day, he was telling the world in a tabloid about how Harry liked it rough in the sack. 

The tweets started up again after that. Social media exploded and even the Westbro Baptist Church had picketed their concert, saying how a slut like her shouldn’t be allowed to be a public figure.

Everywhere she went, people wanted a piece of her. They either wanted her for her fame or they wanted to tear her down.

“I don’t want it!” Harry had cried after a particular set of vicious rumours had spread about her on Twitter. “I don’t want any of this anymore, I don’t.”

Louis had frowned and held her close, stroking her hair off her face as she cried into Louis’ shirt, that was actually Harry’s shirt but looked better on Louis. “What don’t you want, love?”

“Any of this,” Harry had sobbed, defeated. “I just want it to stop. I’m not some slut; I’m _engaged_ for fuck’s sake. I’ve only ever been with you since the band started and you’re the only one I ever want to be with for the rest of my life.”

“I know, love, I know,” Louis had replied. She held Harry through her tears, soothing her until Harry could retract her statement. She didn’t want out of the band, or anything drastic like that, she just wanted the lies and comments to stop.

She thought her opportunity had come when they had done an interview for the British GQ magazine. They, as a band, had point blank refused to take their clothes off to be on the cover of the magazine like so many other famous females had. They were fully clothed at all times but it hadn’t stopped the interviewer from asking very personal questions.

When Harry said that she had only ever had sex with two people, the interviewer had laughed his head off. Harry had felt disgusted with him and refused to partake in the rest of the interview until the other girls were all present. 

It was hard on both her psyche and on her and Louis’ relationship. She was painted as some kind of female lothario, someone who would sleep with every man she met, even though she explicitly told them that she’d only had sex with two people. Even when the magazine came out, that quote had been splashed across newspaper headlines, accompanied by the countless men who had claimed to have slept with her.

Even when Harry fell asleep next to Louis every night they could be together, it plagued her. She didn’t know how much longer she could actually stay like this _and_ keep sane. She knew it was straining her and Louis’ relationship when the next winter holidays, Harry was paired with yet another celebrity. Well, celebrity wannabe this time. He was some D-list American celebrity who Harry only had to be seen with a handful of times, thankfully, before their management and the tabloids did the rest. The sex story turned up within two weeks and Harry had ignored it in favour of wrapping herself around Louis and all that she had to offer.

Somehow, Louis had wrangled them a deal that let them have Louis’ birthday, Christmas, New Year’s _and_ Harry’s birthday together. It was perfect. 

She was beginning to think that her life had some kind of semblance in it again. Louis was glowing with how happy she was and Harry was one hundred percent sure that she was as well. The sex was incredible and it felt like they were a new couple once again with how often Harry found her hand down the front of Louis’ knickers, fingering her until she came, her breath hot against Harry’s neck, littering her skin with love bites wherever she could.

She should have known it would all come crashing to an end sooner or later.

~*~

_HARRY STYLES: HOME WRECKER_

The newspaper headline glares at her from where it sits on the kitchen table. Louis’ hand is on the small of her back, rubbing soothing circles into her skin underneath her shirt. Harry shakes as she reads the contents of the article. Louis had tried taking if off her first thing that morning but Harry was insistent. She wants to know whose marriage she’s apparently breaking up.

When she sees that it’s Ben Winston’s marriage, she barely makes it to the toilet to throw up. Louis enters the bathroom not a moment later, a cold glass of water in her hand and she urges Harry to have a drink. 

Harry sits on their bathroom floor, her hands shaking and her eyes wet. She had been at Ben’s house just the night before and she had kissed his cheek as she had left. He helped her into her car after she had slipped over on the wet footpath and the paparazzi had obviously taken photos of him holding her close afterwards and jumped to their own conclusion.

The sound of Louis on her phone startles Harry. She looks up to see Louis looking down at the floor, talking quickly into the phone.

“Lou?” she asks softly when Louis hangs up, slipping the phone back into the pocket of her skinny jeans. 

“Yeah, love?” Louis asks, pushing Harry’s hair back off her face. “Want to brush your teeth?”

Harry nods. She gets up off the floor and brushes her teeth thoroughly, washing her mouth out with mouthwash afterwards to get rid of the vile taste lingering on her tongue.

“Who was on the phone?” Harry asks once she’s rinsed her mouth for the third time.

“Zayn,” Louis replies. “She and the girls will be coming over soon. Okay?”

Harry nods. “Yeah,” she says. “I miss them.”

Louis smiles softly at her and pulls her close, wrapping her arms around Harry’s middle. “I love you, princess,” she mutters and Harry squeezes her tightly.

“I love you too.”

The sounds of the front door opening and closing interrupts them a short while later and she’s forever glad that the girls all know the passcode to their security gate. They all but tackle Harry to the ground with cuddles and kisses and Harry feels quite loved. Niall is in her lap on the couch once they’ve moved from the entry way, stroking Harry’s hair and muttering about all of the things she would like to do to the paparazzi for their story and Liam is nodding in agreement with her from next to them on the couch. 

Zayn is oddly silent but she gives Harry a reassuring smile that soothes the knot in Harry’s stomach more than she thought it would.

It isn’t until half an hour later that Harry realises Louis is missing.

“Where’s Louis?” she asks. Niall bites her lip and Zayn stands up. “Where is she?”

“She just had to take care of something,” Zayn says.

Harry turns her attention to Liam, who looks like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes widen and she opens and closes her mouth a few times before closing it tightly. Harry looks over at Zayn just in time to see her giving Liam a pointed look.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Harry wonders, biting her lip.

“Haz, now, don’t freak out,” Niall starts gently, from where she’s still sitting in Harry’s lap. She pushes her blonde hair over her shoulder and looks up at Zayn.

“Louis will be back soon,” Zayn says smoothly.

Harry frets until Louis returns, Ben in tow, and a big smile on her face.

“What’s going on?” she asks, standing up.

“Even though he’s just a director, he’s still good with a camera,” Louis starts, like she’s mid-sentence and Harry has the faintest idea what she’s on about.

“Huh?” Harry wonders.

Louis kisses her soundly on the lips and winks. “I’m going to fix _everything_.”

“She’s a brave one, that fiancée of yours,” Ben says with a grin. He has a bag with him and Harry frowns. 

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Harry asks but no one answers her. They move around her and Louis’ lounge room until the couch is pushed aside, the camera set up in the middle and Ben’s laptop on the coffee table. He’s playing with cables and it all looks very technical and complicated, which is probably why Niall is in there with him, poking around at things. 

“You alright, love?” Louis asks when she passes Harry ten minutes later.

“I’m confused,” Harry replies. “What’s going on?”

Louis beams. “I told you, I’m going to fix everything.”

“Yeah, but _how_?” Harry asks, confused. 

“Just wait and see,” Louis responds. She kisses Harry soundly on the lips before picking up her phone and tapping at the touch screen.

“Alright, ladies,” Ben says twenty minutes later. “We’re ready to go.”

Louis takes Harry’s hand and leads her to the couch. They sit down in the middle and Harry frowns when she sees the other girls joining her, their phones in their hands.

“We’re all set from this end, too,” Liam says as she sits down next to Niall, who is squashed into Harry’s other side while Zayn is next to Louis, putting Harry in the centre of their seating arrangement.

“And you’re live in five… four… three…” Ben says, trailing off. 

Harry’s still confused.

“Hi,” Louis says at Ben’s nod. He is staring at his laptop screen intently and gives them a beaming smile. “I’m Louis from One Direction, but I’m sure you know that already.”

Harry stays silent. She has no idea why they’re filming live from her and Louis’ house but they are and she’s going to stay silent until she figures out what the hell is going on. 

“Today a tabloid spread some pretty nasty rumours about Harry here that we would like to clear up,” Zayn says clearly. 

“These rumours have gone on for far too long and not only are they hurting Harry but they are hurting the people that she loves as well,” Liam continues.

“Today’s headline was absolute bullshit,” Niall interjects. “Just so you know.”

To Harry’s surprise, Louis grins. “So, we’re here to clear up some of those nasty rumours and put _everyone’s_ mind at rest.” From underneath the couch, Louis pulls out a folder. Harry’s eyes widen as she takes in every single article that has had something negative printed about her in it.

“This?” Louis says, holding up the first ever sex story about Harry. “Is _rubbish_. These are _all_ rubbish. You want to know why?” She pauses and the other girls all grin at her, encouragingly. “It’s because none of them are true. I know this is probably a shock for a lot of you out there but Harry wasn’t lying when she told GQ magazine that she’s only had sex with two people. And, well, she’s only really had a relationship with one person. _Me_.”

Harry swears her heart drops to her toes. “Lou,” she hisses but Louis takes Harry’s left hand in her own and squeezes it softly. 

“The day Harry and I met, we fell in love. We’ve been together ever since. In fact,” Louis starts. “We’re engaged.” She holds up her ring-clad finger for the camera to see and Ben nods again, having zoomed in on the ring. He nods when he’s zoomed back out and Harry can feel her heart in her throat. “Which I know will come as a shock to only half of you. The other half figured it out back when we were on The X Factor.”

“Yeah, you weren’t really subtle at _all_ ,” Niall says. “The amount of times I caught you two snogging was ridiculous. I thought Liam was going to have a heart attack if she caught you two going at it again.”

Louis’ grin is shamelessly proud. “Well, can you blame me?” 

“So,” Liam interrupts. “We just wanted to let everyone out there know that nothing has changed with us. We’re still the same band, still the same girls…”

“Just two are together,” Niall replies, bumping her shoulder into Harry’s own, a smile on her lips. 

Harry looks up at Ben who is looking between the camera and his laptop, smiling to himself. 

“Also, our good friend Ben Winston is here,” Louis continues a moment later. “And _thankfully_ he already has an amazing and understanding wife, who didn’t appreciate the slander about him on the front page of all of those newspapers. You alright, Ben?”

Ben looks up and nods. “Alright, girls. Keep going,” he says, clearly being heard through the camera’s microphone.

“I know a lot of you will have questions, so for the next hour, we’re going to be answering as many as we can on twitter,” Louis starts. “But we do ask that you respect Harry and my privacy as much as possible.”

“And no crass comments either,” Zayn adds. “Because you’ll just be ignored in favour of someone else.”

Louis nods at Zayn’s comment and then turns to Harry. “Anything you want to say, Harold?” she asks, her tone fond, and the Harry-only smile playing on her lips.

“I love you so much,” Harry whispers. Before she realises what she’s doing, she’s leaning forwards and kissing Louis soundly on the lips. Louis’ hand immediately comes up to cup Harry’s neck and they share a few, soft kisses together before pulling back. Harry can’t believe what this girl has done for her. 

She’s literally just changed _every_ single one of their lives while holding her head high and not letting anyone get the last say about her and Harry’s life together. Harry’s heart feels like it could burst from the amount of love she feels for Louis right then. She grins to herself and ducks her head, pressing her face into Louis’ neck even though she’s sure that the camera is still rolling and capturing every moment of this for the entire world to see.

It’s an odd thought, knowing that the entire world now knows the truth about her and Louis’ relationship, one that they had kept a secret for almost four years. Louis’ hand squeezes her own and she kisses the top of Harry’s head as Ben says he’s cutting off the camera. The couch moves a little as the other girls get up and move and she can’t begin to imagine just how much trouble they’re going to be in for their impromptu live stream but she can’t find it in herself to care. Not when she has the love of her life looking at her like there isn’t anyone else on the entire planet worth looking at. And in that moment, Harry believes there isn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my twenty seventh contribution to [Girl Direction Month](http://star55.tumblr.com/post/115149758256).
> 
> As always, you can find me here on my [tumblr](http://star55.tumblr.com) or here on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/Star_55), if you like. ♥


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